Badminton Ireland Take Up Swords.

Badminton Ireland exhibition at the Pavilions Shopping Centre at Swords.

The event was held as part of the build up to the Carlton Irish Open which takes place on the 4th – 7th December at Baldoyle Badminton Centre, Dublin 13. Ireland’s longest running and most prestigious event is now entering its 100th year. The number of entries for this year’s event are set to break all previous records. The Open will see the return to domestic action of Ireland’s double Olympians Scott Evans and Chloe Magee, not only this but Magee will also being pairing up with her brother Sam in the mixed event. Following on from some good European circuit form it is hoped that the local favourite’s pair can make a real impact. Ireland’s newest doubles partnership of Sam Magee and Jonathan Dolan will also take part and will look to build on their success at theCarlton Irish Future Series last month.

People were also given the chance to win Badminton Ireland mugs and drinks bottles by serving a shuttle through the racket of Chloe Magee’s life size cut-out. This proved to be no easy task with both young and old eager to try. It marked a novel way of introducing children to the game by ensuring a healthy competition was obtained. For those of a more competitive nature a speed gun for measuring the power of a smash was in place. This also proved to be a big hit with the biggest smash of the week coming to almost 200kmph.

These games proved to be a huge success with over 250 young people taking part daily. It is hoped that the interest shown can be built on in the local schools. The reason for this is Badminton Irelands ongoing commitment to incorporate Badminton into all schools through the highly successful Shuttle Time programme. This is an introductory course in the basics of coaching the game. Numerous course are being held across the country including one in Baldoyle which has over 50 teachers already signed up. With such positive numbers as this the future of Badminton in Fingal looks bright.